It starts with the water. Filtered water is best. Tap water contains minerals and other contaminates that affect the taste of the coffee and cause buildup in the coffee maker. Sheppard advises using cold water to start, as it creates a better brew.

If you want your coffee maker to make good coffee, you have to buy good coffee. Sample different kinds and different roasts to find your preference.

Coffee has a short shelf life in terms of optimal flavor. Only buy enough coffee that you will use within two weeks, Oletta said. Grinding your own coffee is best.

Do not store coffee in the refrigerator or freezer, Oletta said. That exposes coffee to moisture, which makes it lose flavor faster. Store it in an airtight container at room temperature.

Ultimately, the real coffee pimps are going to do everything, like growing/picking the beans, roasting, and then grinding on their own. But how many of us have the time/know-how to do all of that. The best thing to do, besides buying gourmet coffee and using filtered/distilled water, is to spring for a French Press or a Vacuum Pot instead of the typical coffee-maker.

He doesn't call himself the Cappuccino guy. We just thought it had a nice ring to it. Sammy Lin just calls himself the coffee guy at the upscale Italian Bottega Del Vino on East 59th Street.

The customers said when it comes to Italian coffees, Sammy's the man. They also said when it comes to presentation, Sammy's really the man.

What Sammy does with the steamed milk foam that tops off a cappuccino is amazing. With his a small little stirrer for a brush he whips up ethereal designs. A leaf, a tree, a laughing monkey face, other free form designs that with their beautiful symmetry look something like the glass designs at the end of a kaleidoscope.

The proliferation of coffee shops helped usher in a new era, and coffee lovers now have a new bean to grind. Many are doing their own roasting, grinding and cupping-testing the beans' quality by sipping and spitting out samples.

These budding hobbies reflect a trend: Americans have moved away from store-bought brands and are flocking to coffee shops and gourmet outlets-and treating coffee a lot like wine.

In coffee circles, connoisseurs refer to this trend as the "third wave" of American consumption, said Kristin Marks, 20, a barista at Metropolis in Rogers Park.

From the first wave-freeze-dried and canned brands-Americans leapt to the second wave, making espresso at home and frequenting quality cafes such as Starbucks.

The third wave carries coffee drinking to the next level, with specialized roasting, grinding and cupping, and picking gourmet beans by their vintages from around the world.

The total consumption of gourmet coffee has reached an all-time high, with 63 percent of Americans saying they drank at least one gourmet coffee beverage within the past year, according to a recent study by the National Coffee Association of USA.

The best trend we can hope to develop here is a widespread group of baristas and personally-invested entrepreneurs to open more shops. The less Starbucks-like homogenization of the industry, the better.

Coffee drinking may lower the risk of developing type-2 diabetes. Two teams of researchers have found that coffee has a protective effect, with one finding that those who drink the most are at the lowest risk of having the disease.

In a study of 25,000 men and women by the National Public Health Institute in Finland, coffee was found to reduce the risk of diabetes.

I'm at a loss, again. I predict next week that Folgers will come out with the damn cure for Cancer.

The cafe will feature fair traded coffees from around the world, many of them organic, says Linda Stills who owns the shop with husband Russell Thomas.

The shop will feature pastries desserts, sandwiches and light lunch items. There will be outdoor seating in front as well as on balconies being installed on the upper floors of the building. The interior is being completely redone, and will feature decor in the style of A Far Away Place, the shop Stills owns next door.

For local shops to boast organic as well as material of worldwide diversity is a recipe for success in a small-medium college town.

The 10 cup home coffee maker features new innovations such as one button programming and a unique white-on-black LCD display. In addition, the unit can grind coffee finely for bolder brews, or coarsely for milder coffees. The CoffeeTeam Therm can also be programmed to grind more or less coffee, and can be set to brew at regular, mild, or strong for varying brew strengths.

The damn thing has an LCD-screen built into it. An LCD-screen. Seriously, how far are we away from just making androids who looks like quaint Columbians that farm, harvest, and grind the beans for you? Too far? Hey...just a suggestion.

Fifteen was created by the chef to train disadvantaged young people - some of whom were homeless, in care or living with learning difficulties - to work in the restaurant business.

Streetwork's coffee shop will initially be set up by people with experience of running cafes who will then train the homeless recruits. It is hoped about 40 people will be employed.

Scientists discovered that the caffeine present in strong coffee alters the brain's electrical activity.

By boosting gamma rhythms, produced by the synchronised firing of nerve cells 40 times a second, it aids memory and learning.

At this point I think it's safe to say that by slowly weaning infant children on a nonstop coffee-drip we can breed a super-attenuated race of ubermensch who have no health deficiencies and really good memories.

In March, a study that followed more than 3,000 coffee drinkers in Greece for two years found troubling levels of inflammatory substances in their blood, compared with the blood of those who don't drink coffee.

The study, which was presented at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting, found that men who consumed more than a cup of coffee a day had 30 percent higher levels of a particular inflammatory substance in their blood, compared with non-coffee drinkers. For women, it was 38 percent higher.

Coffee Beans Overview

History

The Coffee Bean

Harvesting

Coffee Makers Overview

Coffee Makers Overview

Types

Sizes

Espresso Machines Overview

What is an Espresso Machine?

Types of Espresso Machines

Espresso Machine Styles

Types of Coffee Overview

Kona Coffee

Gourmet Coffee

Hawaiian Coffee

Jamaica, mon!

Agriculture and Lands Minister, Roger Clarke today (August 11) presented cheques totalling $100 million to the Coffee Corporation Limited and the Coffee Industry Board, to assist coffee farmers whose crops were affected by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

The cheques, which were handed over to the Chairman of the Coffee Corporation Ltd., St. Clair Shirley, and Director General of the Coffee Industry Board, Graham Dunkley, will be disbursed to more than 6,000 coffee farmers during the next three weeks.

Finally, some blowback from all that coffee benefits stuff. Turns out it may be so great for the old ticker.

It's odd though that the risk seems to be involving those already predisposed to heart disease and that don't drink coffee regularly, as opposed to regular Java Joes.

Of the 503 patients surveyed, 80 had at least one cup within the hour before the onset of their myocardial infarction: as such, the relative risk of MI in the hour after coffee consumption was 1.49. When patients were stratified according to usual coffee intake, light and occasional coffee drinkers had a relative risk of MI that was almost four times higher than that of heavy coffee drinkers and more than double that of moderate coffee drinkers.